A/N: Well, here's my first official Episode remake since my return from hiatus. I haven't seen this episode myself in a while, so I'm sorry if it's not true to form. Then again, it's AU, isn't it?

Also, thanks to the reviewers who left me their love of the last chapter. I'm honored you think so highly of my work. I didn't feel all that satisfied with the quality of writing but your opinions made me realize that I needn't have worried.

So this episode's going to be in several parts since I like keeping these chapters around 2000 words if I can. Anything shorter isn't worth reading, and anything over 3500 might be too long for some people.

Again, let me know what you think and thank you for your support!

Dalek

Part One

Needless to say, I didn't sleep much after that. I tried, even changed into some pajamas I found on the bed when I got back to my room. Tried not thinking about what had happened. Tried not to hear the Doctor's shouts and general agony. Everything kept repeating itself over and over in my head the more I tried to ignore it. I gave up after a couple of hours. No use fighting a losing battle.

Bleary eyed, I stumbled my way out into the hall, only to smack my head into a wall. "What now?" I grumbled, peeling my eyes open a bit further.

The TARDIS had to have been in my head. I'd just walked straight from my room into a kitchen. No hallways whatsoever. Just poof, there I stood like a dumb idiot. It even looked like a kitchen on earth. Coffee maker, fridge, stove, you name it.

Eventually I just shook my head. "Do you know how creepy that is?" I demanded of the wonder machine that I'd found myself living on.

And of course the TARDIS said nothing to that.

…

Before I could even scrounge up the courage to face the Doctor like nothing had happened, I had to get changed. When I returned to my room after the grabbing the best cappuccino and scrambled eggs ever, though, my clothes had disappeared as if they'd never existed.

"Oh that's just great!" I snapped, glaring at the ceiling with my hands on my hips. "I need clothes you know and after getting kidnapped by a tiny wristwatch with nothing but the clothes on my back, I think I deserve …."

Something burst open behind me. My umpteenth yelp within two days squeaked out of me. Then it just up and died as I gaped like a big freaking idiot.

A wardrobe full of clothes. So many trench coats, bell-bottom jeans, converse and shoulder bags. The thing had to be bigger on the inside, just like the ship. And how could a wardrobe in a space-time ship look like it belonged in a cabin in the woods?

Then my surroundings dawned on me, sending me into a literal spin. My jaw dropped even further. I'd been surrounded by my Dad's bedroom. Well, my bedroom now. Fireplace at one end of the room; giant bed piled high with thick, fuzzy blankets, four posts, and a canopy; very thick carpet in front of the fire with wood floors everywhere else; high, domed ceiling. Everything I wanted in a room.

"Jessie?" Rose's voice came through muffled and perky. How long had she been up? "The Doctor's actually taking us somewhere this time. Hurry up or you're going to miss it!"

The Doctor.

My enchantment with the room faded, but didn't go away. I couldn't keep the cheek-splitting grin from my face. "Be right out. Just found the closet!" Spinning around, I frantically searched the front row of clothes.

"The what? You've got a closet?" Rose's surprise sent her into the squawking range. "I only got a set of drawers. How'd you get on her good side already?"

"I have no idea. The only other time I've been on board was at Downing Street, so I haven't had the chance to get to know her." Smoky gray trench coat, black jeans, a dark blue tee, and vibrant red converse. My weapons of choice, though I felt pretty sure that the shirt came from the TARDIS. "Plus I got yanked out of my apartment with nothing but the clothes on my back."

I didn't even bother to check to see if the brown bag I snagged from the closet had anything in it. If the TARDIS already knew my size, then who was I to second guess that she could move my things into a different bag, too?

Rose grinned when I opened the door. "Nice. Cozy looking. I've got an exact copy of my mum's flat. My room in my mom's flat, anyway." She grabbed my arm and started hauling me away. "Been to another planet yet?"

"Does London itself count?" Best to keep on her good side since she seemed to be the only one to make the Doctor smile. I didn't want to alienate her when the Doctor still didn't like me very much.

Besides, Rose could serve as a useful distraction and a barrier between me and the Doctor. After last night, I didn't really want to talk to him right away.

Said Doctor had already begun tapping his foot impatiently when we scrambled into the console room. "There you are. Do all humans take so long to get ready?" His eyes didn't even glance my way.

Thankfully not picking up on it, Rose snorted and tromped up to the console. "Nope, just us girls. Get used to it, Doctor, since you've got two of us now."

"Spare me from the madness of humans," the Doctor grumbled before spinning back to the controls. Although I'd pinned my eyes to a point somewhere between the Y-columns and the ceiling, I could feel his gaze snap my way for a few seconds. He gave away nothing except his usual stand-offish demeanor.

"Then why'd you let us stay?" Rose's grin turned mischievous. "So, where are we going? It's got to be an alien planet; it's Jessie's first time out, after all."

Nice, Rose. Force two people who don't really want to talk to each other into the same conversation. Dragged against their will, my eyes eventually found the Doctor's and the identical grimace on his face sent my lips into a betraying smirk before I could control them. "I don't really care where or even when we go. Just wandering around the TARDIS could be considered an adventure in and of itself. Especially when she refuses to keep the same layout twice," I added with a grumble that I didn't mean.

"Well, I never said she didn't like playing games," came the Doctor's retort, not as biting as I'd expected it to be. He ducked back behind the central column, but … did he almost smile?

No, I told myself as the Doctor started darting around and pressing buttons. He had no reason to think well of me after the way I'd pressured that information out of him. I couldn't even forgive myself for that. Why would I expect him to do otherwise?

All of that worry washed away as the familiar sound of the TARDIS filled the room. I grinned as something in the column began pumping up and down. The exhilaration that tingled my chest didn't come from just me. Rose's smile looked just as giddy as mine probably did. Of on an adventure to some strange time and place with ….

The savage buck of the TARDIS threw me against the console. I winced as weird bits poked at me and tried not to touch anything. "What did you do to her?" I demanded as the shuddering continued.

"Me?" The Doctor huffed as he righted himself from where he'd been thrown. "I didn't do anything. Get your hands off of that!" He lunged across the console, hands closing around a dial I'd fallen on.

I skidded out of the way before he'd be forced to touch me. "Well, she's not happy and I know I didn't touch anything before this started, so it must be your fault!"

"Oi! Forget about who did what. Where are we going?" Rose held onto the seat for dear life.

Before the Doctor could give her an answer, the TARDIS' shaking came to a sudden, abrupt end. I tripped when I tried to correct myself. If I hadn't run smack into something solid and warm, I would've ended up on the floor.

Wait, solid and warm? With my worst blotchy blush exploding onto my face, I tried not to look at the Doctor's face too much. I caught his eye briefly, though. "Sorry," I murmured as I managed to regain my feet. Talk about the most awkward moment of my life.

For a few more seconds, the Doctor didn't let go of my arms. That drew my attention inevitably upwards. For a split moment, I could see the apology unveiled in his eyes. Felt it bleed through the contact between his hand and my arm. Just as quickly as I'd felt it, the emotional wall I knew all too well slid back into place. Hiding the real Doctor once again.

That almost made me hurt more than seeing him in his nightmare.

Someday I'd get through that tough armor completely. If I ever got that lucky.

"Right. Now, where are we? Because that wasn't supposed to happen." The Doctor practically ran for the doors with the two of us humans right behind.

"So, what is it? What's wrong?" To her credit, Rose didn't sound the least be worried as we stepped out into a very, very dark room.

The Doctor shrugged, turning around to run his hand along the side of the TARDIS. "Don't know. Some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course."

I squinted in the low light. Freaky shadows lurked just beyond the faint light. "Funny, I just thought you were just a bad driver." I hadn't meant for that to come out as loud as it did. My face still burned, I couldn't keep myself from fiddling with my hair.

"Hoy! How many times to I have to tell you to shut it?"

"Where are we, anyway?"

Thank you Rose, bringing the Doctor back to the present. Or past, or whatever timeline we'd landed in.

It took the Doctor a few seconds of glancing around before he said anything. "Earth. Utah, North America …."

"Doctor, I said I wanted to go somewhere other than back home," I fake moaned. "Born and raised in the U.S. Trust me, nothing interesting to see."

"Jessica …

"I know, I know. Shut up again."

Rose made a noise. "Don't you two ever stop?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, eventually glancing upwards. "I'd also say we were half a mile underground." His restless eyes homed in on a nearby shape that I couldn't see from where I stood.

"And … when are we?" Even though we hadn't left Earth, there still lived some excitement in Rose's voice. Well, being in America would be an adventure for her, wouldn't it?

"Two thousand and twelve."

My hopes for a grand first adventure crashed with a fiery explosion. "Boring. Is this some payback for hitch-hiking?"

"But two thousand and twelve." Rose, for her part, looked … well … stunned? "But that's so close. I should be twenty-six out there somewhere."

Well, the thought of a twenty-seven year old me somewhere in the same country did creep me out a little. What would I even be doing? Hopefully not staying on Earth full-time. I'd go mad.

The lights suddenly blazed on full power, thanks to the Doctor's grabby hands. My protest about maybe tripping silent alarms died in my throat and my eyes widened at what the display cases held. So many weird shapes and things that I couldn't even name. I frowned a little, glancing at the Doctor, who had darted towards the nearest case. If they interested him, the things had to be alien of some sort.

An alien collection meant alarms, if I knew my fellow paranoid American well enough.

Rose whistled, joining the Doctor a few rows away. "Blimey, it's a museum."

"An alien museum. Someone's got a hobby." The life that had come back to the Doctor's voice gave away his interest. I had to almost run to catch up as he darted from case to case. "They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust. That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship."

"Wait, wait, what?" I grabbed the Doctor's arm and pointed to the last thing he'd gestured at. "You're saying that I should've listened to all those conspiracy theories about that thing? I thought it was just a joke."

The smirk that graced his features didn't come from the completely nice category. "Is it that hard to believe? You did just face down Slitheen on Downing Street after all."

"Not just, Doctor, not for me," I retorted with a lot less fire than I wanted. I released his arm and ran a hand over my head. "With you, I don't know what a real alien thing is and what isn't now. So just bear with …."

"Speaking of Slitheen," Rose added from a ways away, cutting our conversation short. She stood before something very green and unfortunately very familiar. "That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed." She seemed very queasy and disturbed.

"Oh, look at you!"

Such a tone coming from the Doctor snapped my head away from the severed arm and towards another case with a metal head in it. A sick twist in my gut made it almost impossible to join him. Those dead eyes and missing part of its head terrified me. Yes, a head with no body scared me even more than the Weeping Angels or the Slitheen. My hands clenched until the nails dug into my palm.

The confusion on Rose's face reassured me that she hadn't seen that alien before. No chance of running into it. "What is that thing?"

An odd kind of satisfaction gave the Doctor's face a bit of a lighter tone. "An old friend of mine. Well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit." He made a face and straightened. "I'm getting old."

Clearing my throat, I managed to gesture at it. "So is that where the signal came from?"

"No," the instant denial proved more relieving than he knew. "It's stone dead. That signal's alive. Something's reaching out. Calling for help."

"So we're here to save an alien? That's a lot cooler than … Doctor don't!" Too late, the Doctor's hand touched the head's case, which finally set off the alarm that I'd been waiting for. "Museum full of expensive alien things, idiot!" I groaned, reaching over to smack him in the arm. "Ever think there'd be alarms?"

"You should've said something since you were thinking about it."

I opened my mouth for a full-on scolding when very human shouts erupted around us. Great, guards … with guns. Being the first time someone had ever pointed a weapon at me, I shrank back, closer to the Doctor, before realizing what I was doing. Close enough to almost smell his jacket.

He took a half step forward, though, putting himself in front of the two of us.

Big, freaking idiot from outer space.

"If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A," Rose murmured, looking a bit calmer than me, but still quite worried.

A grim realization dawned. Who knew what would happen if the people who built the museum realized that the Doctor happened to be an alien? I'd seen too many sci-fi movies, so I had a general idea what that would entail.

I didn't even consider what they'd do with my brain if they somehow learned of my abilities. I just knew they couldn't get to the Doctor. I wouldn't let them.